By Aliyah K-P, Year 12

What is the biggest prime number you can name?

This was a question asked to Year 12 mathematicians during the 2026 Maths Fest at the Royal Institution. It turns out that the world’s new largest prime number is over 41 million digits long and would take 237 days to read – pretty mind blowing!

Hosted by mathematician Matt Parker, the day featured a variety of enriching talks that explored the wider world of mathematics, starting with Sophie Maclean’s fascinating talk “Numbers: A Primer,” exploring prime numbers and the history and uses of  ‘Sophie Germain Primes.’ This was followed by Laura Taalman (aka “Mathgrrl”), whose talk “Following the Rules (When You Like Them)” discussed rule-based pattern generators and cellular automata. She demonstrated how these concepts inspire new directions in fibre arts, even showing us her own scarves—and we later spotted her crocheting during the breaks! She also kindly gifted us multicoloured Sierpiński keychains, which are now adorning quite a few school bags.

After a short break, we watched the “Maths Slam” competition. Meher and Stella represented NHEHS with an engaging three-minute presentation titled “When Numbers Make Noise – The Maths Behind Music.” We were all rooting for them as they explored the intersection of sound and structure. Other highlights included James Grime’s “Bits and Pieces: Secrets of a Digital World,” which traced the digital age from WWII to WiFi (featuring a memorable photo of him with a flower crown Snapchat filter!). Ayliean MacDonald challenged us with the Tower of Hanoi puzzle before lunch, later revealing that a 53-disk version would take over 9 billion years to complete! We also received valuable exam advice from Nicole Cozens.

Although our Maths Slam entry didn’t win, we are incredibly proud of Meher and Stella for their performance. The day concluded with Ben Sparks on “The Sacred Geometry of Chance.” He discussed the hidden laws of gambling – even winning £1 off an audience member – and finished the day perfectly with a performance of Sting’s Shape of My Heart.

It was an inspiring day full of learning. We are extremely grateful to Mr Morony and Ms Aranowska for organising the trip.